Jed Johnson

keeping with my new found growing interest in interior design, i came across this book while back home.  i was never really familiar with Jed Johnson - the name always kinda hovered around whenever i read about the Andy Warhol and his gang.  but going through it i discovered a talented and seemingly genuinely gifted decorator.  his really beautiful sense of style made me clearly obsessed with that Jed Johnson look.  i must learn more .....

ferosh

Bookshelf: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

one of my favorite movies of all time is Breakfast at Tiffany's.  i remember watching it when i think i was about 13 or so and just being mesmerized by Audrey Hepburn's portrayal of Holly Golightly.  of course there was the obvious fashion reasons that made me adore Ms. Hepburn - like that signature Givenchy ensemble of the swishy LBD.  but really you simply couldn't 'hate' Holly Golightly because of the innocence and charm that Ms. Hepburn brought to the character.  which was why, when i read the original novella by Truman Capote, i was surprised by the real story of Holly Golightly.  Surprised but pleasantly surprised still.really Breakfast at Tiffany's the novella is a dark, sad, funny, poignant, but not-so-happy story of a lost girl who manages to captivate and infuriate those around her.  her name pretty much sums her up:  a woman who makes a holiday of life but treads through it lightly (originally her character was to be named but Connie Gustafson - thankfully though that never happened).  essentially a girl-for-hire, she trapezes about the New York social circle in search of that sense of life-long security - albeit mostly a monetary one.  Holly Golighty the literary persona is much darker than her celluloid counterpart - charming and chic yes but with a darker, more cruel skin that definitely yellowed her aura.  if she was around nowadays i wouldn't be surprised to see her on a reality show, whoring for that quick taste of fame.  unlike the movie, she never gets her Hollywood ending of romance.  true to life, Holly Golightly ends up with probably more questions that answers.  

 

Vincent Gallo

in heels

Christina Ricci in "Buffalo '66"

YSL Homme S/S 2007 campaign starring Vincent Gallo by Jeff Burton

David Bowie on Soul Train, 1975

Shalom on the Prada Spring/Summer 1996 Runway

Give Me Meisel or Give Me Death: Basic Story

David Bowie, 1976

What Did You Say: Melanie Ward

"if you don't get out there and look around, you're never going to progress because you don't know what you're questioning."

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre

french graphic designer & artist who created the Yves Saint Laurent logo in 1963

Andrée Putman

Andrée Putman (born Andrée Christine Aynard in Paris on December 23, 1925) is a French interior designer.

Her career spans more than 4 decades and she was designated "Above taste" by the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the 1980s, she rediscovered several major designers- Eileen Gray, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Mariano Fortuny- and launched the company Ecart International to manufacture and market these modern classics. At the same time, Mme. Putman invented the "Boutique Hotel" for Ian Schrager with Morgans in New York and then the Wasserturm in Cologne and Pershing Hall in Paris.

Eclectic projects have ranged from the Fine Arts Museum of Rouen to the CAPC in Bordeaux, from the movie sets for Peter Greenaway to the Concorde for Air France. Recent work in product design include an important silverware and jewelry collection with Christofle, a champagne cooler for Veuve Clicquot and an ultimate evolution of the legendary Steamer Bag from Louis Vuitton.

As an interior designer, Mme. Putman recently unveiled the Blue Spa at Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, the Guerlain flagship store on the Champs-Elysées and stores for Anne Fontaine in Tokyo, Paris and New York as well as private residences in , Dublin, Miami, Paris, Rome, Shanghai,Tel Aviv and Tangiers. Most recently, she designed a 31 floor apartment skyscraper in Hong Kong, conveniently named The Putman. She has described her most successful projects as, "the perfect balance between discipline and revolt."

want it now!

Andrée Putman's Sinuoasa armchair ..... just gorgeous .... 

painting mural

Bryan Ferry

sartorial icon 

enough said

I-D Spring 2010 Issue

feels right for the upcoming mood .... 

Musical Intermission: Nirvana "Plateau"

if only

so as i squat in my tiny little lower east side apartment, desperately trying to maximize as much of its miniscule square footage, i'm dreaming of what those "adult" apartments must be like to live in.  you know, the ones inhabited by those with some sense of security and self awareness and decorated with  a calming polish and grandeur.   well, to me, Bill Blass had that ultimate definition in living.  his pied a terre on Sutton Place is what living like an adult looks like to me.  well, then that stylish fantasy of being an adult.  so maybe one day (i hope) ......  

What Did You Say: Truman Capote

"failure is the condiment that gives success it's flavor"

Screening Room: Barefoot in the Park (1967)

diary of a chair

waiting for a drink in the meatpacking .... exhausted

Planet Awesome Kid Charity Event 2010

it was a crazy, fun, and totally awesome day at the Planet Awesome Kid Charity Event to benefit Global Action for Kids.   held at the Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District, this was a total playground heaven for kids and adults alike.  from arts and crafts to dancing and even yoga, it really celebrated that amazing energy and spirit of being a kid.  i was lucky enough to help out and spent the afternoon painting with all the little guys and girls there.  yes, it was extremely exhausting (imagine of an army of paint splattering mini-pollacks raring to go at you) but, in the end, when art is essentially about the imagination, who better than a kid to exemplify that?  big congrats to Julia Samersova and Christiana Tran and everyone else at the Planet Awesome Kid team for an amazing day.  just a few of the moments i managed to capture ....

Coney Island Kids

Give Me Meisel or Give Me Death: Thursday Afternoon

Bubbles

Strike A Pose

Alessandro Dell'Acqua Spring/Summer 1998 Campaign by Juergen Teller

Devon Aoki

Musical Intermission: Primal Scream "Kowalski"

Icon: Keith Haring

What Did You Say: Keith Haring

"my contribution to the world is my ability to draw.  i will draw as much as i can for as many people as i can for as long as i can.  drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times.  it brings together man and the world.  it lives through magic."

Table In Work

it was an exhausting day traveling back to NYC (and still sadly up despite rapid fatigue).  good though to finish the day with some artwork - trying to continue the furniture series with this 'lil table above.  still waiting for better pics but here is a small preview of the in-work progression.

YSL FW2010 Film by Bruce Weber

flowers can always brighten up your day

i'm loving the beauty of a photographed flower - there can be something very simple yet really perfect about it.  flowers can brighten up whatever is around them.  it just feels right.

Amanda de Cadenet

Tim Walker

Robert Mapplethorpe

Mario Sorrenti by Kate Moss

apparently this is a close up of Yves Saint Laurent's desk in his bedroom ...

i love his notebook ...

Mia Farrow by Diane Arbus (1964)

Linda by Bruce Weber

Screening Room: "A Room With A View"

Petey Wright By Hedi Slimane

sketches from the past

i found some old sketches - i drew these from these old Calvin Klein ads from the mid nineties.

Kate Moss & Joe Dallesandro

this is happy

What Did You Say: Ghost World (2001) Quote

Enid:  i think i'm going crazy from sexual frustration
Rebecca:  and you haven't heard the miracle of masturbation?

Joaquin Phoenix & Liv Tyler (Interview Magazine, 1997)

je t'aime tuleh

to me Tuleh was that quintessentially refined New York fashion house that really embodied the chic and stylish je ne sais quoi you don't see much of nowadays in American fashion.   it was fashion for women - pure and simple -  who enjoyed all that print, color, rosettes, bows, ruffles, and furs could do.  Tuleh was a fashion romantic and more than ever do we need that beautiful poetic spirit today.

Girlfriends

Ms. Turlington & Ms. Campbell - j'adore

Naomi Campbell by Peter Lindbergh - "Paul Gauguin Story" for Harper's Bazaar

i remember this amazing editorial from Harper's Bazaar (i think 1992 or 1993) where Peter Lindbergh cast Naomi Campbell as muse to Paul Gauguin.  the romance of the colors and the exotic, fantasty world is a nice get away from the cold, seriousness of reality, no?

Screening Room: "Coal Miner's Daughter"

hey fun boys get a room

from a 2005 editorial in Arena Homme Plus.  photos remind me of old Bill King.

sketching for stickers

been sketching these kinda random, stream of thought doodles - working to bring them to some other sort of media like maybe stickers ...

flowers

Peter Saville